In 1888, a world burst open in the form of a splash of water in the hand of a young blind and deaf girl at a well in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She instantly learned that water and other things have names, and she later called it the “birthday of my soul.” Exactly a century later in 1998, Helen Keller's family joined a group of committed scientists to form a foundation in her now famous name, and in her home state, with a mission of continuing her victories over blindness and deafness through research and education.

The Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education exists to ally Helen Keller's legacy with solutions to blindness and deafness. In the area of vision research, the Foundation has focused on eye injury, retinal detachment, diabetic retinopathy, strokes of the eye and macular degeneration in addition to developing similar programs to address hearing and speech challenges. The Character Education Program touches thousands of elementary school-age children each year, keeping the life and spirit of its namesake alive through in-person visits by Keller Johnson, Helen's great niece, and soon by webcasts worldwide.

Alex Munroe and Dr. Sid Hayes of alerttile® with Keller Johnson, Dr. Robert Morris and Laura Beckwith of the Helen Keller Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama